In the past few seasons there have been some exciting climaxes to the County Championship season, usually featuring Somerset faltering at the final hurdle to allow Durham, Lancashire or Nottinghamshire to size the pennant. This time, Warwickshire have clinched the title with a game to spare and I have to admit it is well-deserved.
They reached the achievement in style, too, trouncing neighbours Worcestershire at New Road by an innings and 202 inside three days. Two years ago, Warwicks were struggling near the foot of Division One, escaping relegation by a whisker. Their batting was in particularly dire straits, the top order frequently failing only to be rescued by the likes of Chris Woakes and Neil Carter, who also shared many of the wickets.
Last summer, they signalled their revival by defeating Somerset early on, and this year it has been a close fight with Notts until Jim Troughton's side pulled away in the past few weeks to take the Championship for the first time since 2004. Then, like now, Worcestershire were relegated and there was a chasm between the counties this week. Warks opener Varun Chopra alone almost outscored the entire Worcs line-up twice, scoring 195 to the opposition's aggregate of 269! Ian Westwood and skipper contributed half-centuries and recent signing Ian Blackwell bludgeoned 84 to set up the declaration.
However, it has been the depth in bowling that has really delivered success for Warwickshire in 2012. They could never expect Trott or Bell to play more than the occasional innings but when Chris Woakes suffered an early-season injury, I rated their chances of success as slim at best. Boyd Rankin also missed much of the campaign. However, Chris Wright and Keith Barker really stepped up to the plate. It was typical of the summer that they bowled unchanged to take five wickets each at Worcester this week and the former polished off the last three wickets in his final three overs to take the title this afternoon. Both men have claimed more than fifty wickets in the competition so far, Barker's 54 coming at an average of just 20.
Add in the all-round contributions of Rikki Clarke, the spin of New Zealander Jeetan Patel and the resurgence of former England wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose and Warwickshire can feel extra proud of their squad. Much of it is home grown, although both Chopra and Wright were brought in from Essex where they had been surplus to requirements. No disrespect to Patel but they didn't have to rely on a big overseas star to generate success, either. Director of cricket Ashley Giles credited the late Neal Abberley, former batting coach, with laying the foundations for the 2012 triumph but Giles, chief exec Colin Pavey and the rest of the backroom staff should also take some credit and who's to say that Jim Troughton's leadership didn't play a part? His batting hasn't lived up to the early promise but he has stayed true to the cause and turned in some useful, though not startling, performances this year. Chopra is one of only three men to top 1000 Championship runs and when he scores, he usually goes on to a big hundred.
Their season is not over, either. Victory over Hampshire in the CB40 final will present them with the rarer double, and they do have the players to do it. I wouldn't be surprised to see some young players blooded for the final four-day fixture against Notts but Warwickshire have earned the right to take it easy. This has been officially the wettest summer for a century, leading to a large proportion of draws. The champions have won a mere six first-class games but that has proved enough, with only Somerset beating them - and narrowly at that. Hopefully the positions will be reversed in 2013. Sigh....!
